Error on harddrive when booting

I've got a problem. I need to fix a error with my hard
drive. When I boot I get a 1791 error. To by pass it I
have to hit F1 after that it boots just fine. I have a
8702 Compaq Presario. I added a 20 gig hard drive and
that's when the problem started. The system doesn't seem to
be able to handle any partitions greater than 2 gig so
that's what is set at. All the partitions on the new and
old hard drive work fine it just the error occurs during
boot. What I'm trying to do is clean up some other errors
by restoring the configuration to the original settings but
can't because of the error. The restore program chokes on
the hard drive error. I've disconnected the slave 20 gig
drive but that doesn't help. I still get the error. I've
looked on a number of web sites for help but haven't found
an answer. Can anyone help? Let me know, Thanks